As a candymaker I naturally have to deal a lot with sugar. And I bet there’s hardly another food ingredient that is more at the center of public attention and debates. And I am also pretty sure that there are not many other substances in food that create such incredible controversies, especially -and sadly- even far far beyond any scientificly sound knowledge.Today I came accross yet another product that boldly advertised its ‘syrup’ content. Even if that just means regular, boring, cheap, standard glucose syrup (here named ‘tapioca syrup’)

For now I will just ignore to further write about me recent abscense from my blogger-life…
Instead I’d rather briefly share some impressions from the Amsterdam Origin Chocolate Event that took place yesterday!

Tasting some fabulous chocolates from Shattell in Peru at the Amsterdam Origin Chocolate Event 2016.

Yesterday I learned more about the rapidly growing local microbrewery scene at Pakhuis de Zwijger. This ‘Brewery Special’ was organized by Indie Brands and mainly consisted of 5 presentations by different local breweries to introduce themselves and tell something about what they do, why they do it and additional anecdotes (the featured breweries were Amsterdam Brewboys, De Vriendschap, De Prael, Oedipus, and Browerij t’IJ). Naturally, this was followed by a beer tasting…

Dear regular followers of my blog1,
I know that it must appear as if I am currently obsessed with my microbial cohabitants. Soon, I will return to more candy and chocolate stuff. Promised!
But for now: back to my microbes….

The microbiome topic is increasingly hyped in the media. ‘Redefining human’ is the catchy title for a planed film project. The picture is based on a screenshot from their website (website of ‘redefine human’)

It is not the first time artificial sweeteners are linked to negative effects on human health, such as weight gain or diabetes. But a new study by Suez et al. now published in Nature might very well mark an important cornerstone in our perception of artificial sweeteners as a frequently used food additive.

During the last year I frequently stumbled over research related to the ‘microbiota’ (sometimes referred to as ‘microbiome’), which simply stands for the myriad microbes we carry around. It immediately caught my interest when I first learned more about it. I can still remember that I was totally sure that I had found a typo when I first read that we have 10-times more of those little creatures in our body than human cells!